Thursday, October 01, 2009

Day of Days!

It has arrived! My day of days, and my comp copies of "Triumff"! I'm going to take this opportunity, if I may, to introduce a new guest blogger. I know, I know, you've read a review of "Triumff" already, you might even have read two, but, frankly, I can't get enough of people saying nice things about this book. It's my baby, and it has been for a very long time, and I can't think of anything nicer to do, today, than revel in praise for it!

I was seriously considering have a competition for best review of "Triumff", but they've all been so darned marvelous that it'd be impossible to choose just one!

Jonathan Green has been a fellow Black Library writer, and a very fine fellow for more years than I care to remember. He's a jolly good writer and a jolly good egg, and I can't say enough nice things about him. I sent him "Triumff", and the dear man read it. This is what he had to say. Thank you, Jonathan, and take it away:

Triumffant
A review of Dan Abnett’s Triumff: Her Majesty’s Hero by Jonathan Green

Triumff: Her Majesty's Hero is Dan Abnett’s long-awaited and much-anticipated original fiction debut. He’s been writing for years, of course (which is patently apparent in Triumff), and is already a multi-million-selling author, but outside of 2000AD, Games Workshop and various other comic-writing and tie-in novelisation gigs, he is still, unbelievably a relative unknown. But all that is about to change with the publication of this truly original work of fiction.
The setting is the present day, only it’s a world very different to our own, the sun never having set on the glories of the first Elizabethan Age. In this alternate reality the Renaissance saw a re-emergence of the Magick Arts and hence the arresting of significant technological development. Against this backdrop of Shakespearean thesps, wily cardinals and duelling noblemen, Sir Rupert Triumff – dandy, drinker and dueller – is catapulted into a revenger’s tragedy’s worth of intrigue as he tries to uncover and put paid to a nefarious and damnably traitorous scheme.
Abnett’s world-building is assured and satisfyingly detailed, although none of this detail ever swamps the plot which moves at a rollicking rate. In fact, it reads like a Blackadder-inspired cinematic blockbuster. As a result, the alternate Elizabethan setting is instantly recognisable, populated with pastiches of historical figures as well as characters that have walked right out of your television set. There’s even a nod to hardcore Warhammer fans. Humour, action and intrigue abound in equal measure, and combine with Abnett’s idiosyncratic clockpunk stylings to create a wholly satisfying read.
To dismiss Triumff: Her Majesty's Hero as a Pratchett clone is to do it a disservice; this is classic Abnett. From the economy of description – which nonetheless conjures a vivid and fascinating backdrop – to the grand set-piece action scenes and frequent, pun-tastic humour – that extends to a scene right out of Bond – it could hardly be anything else.
If you want your buckles well and truly swashed and derring done, you know where to come. Triumff is, in a word, a triumph.

24 comments:

Big said...

ZZZIIIIIINNNNNGGGGGG.............
TRIUMFF...TRIUMFF...TRIUMFF.....
Nuff Said.

Unknown said...

I'm looking forward to getting mine in approxiamtely 43 minutes...

Xhalax said...

Yay!

Congratulations Mr. Green for a great review and Mr. Abnett for the book.

Blitzspear said...

All were brilliant reviews tho i think Bigs "cockspankingly brilliant" review sold it for me :) Also the signs and portents have been favorable as i found out what an excubitor is which made me think of Dan then 2 pages on there is the word Hagia and its a Church to boot, Hagia sophia in Constantinople.

Big said...

Whilst im in book buying mode i think im gonna get the omnibus of G.G. and start again, im filled with nostalgia at the moment.
I think im ready to start reading them again.

Jonathan Green said...

Much as I love Big's succinct review, I think Mr Churchill's is the one to beat.

Any takers?

HiWayRobry said...

I'd have to say Mr. Churchill, Mr. Green, Xhalax and Big should all win a prize for their brilliant reviews. I say: "A pint for each and every one of you!"
And all of you buy one for Dan and the world is as it should be.

Anonymous said...

Guyx what about Blood Pact? Has someone read it already! It has action pack pages or no& How is the story?

Asen Tsvetkov said...

Congratulations. A nice review of a greatly expected book.
I wish Mr. Abnett that the popularity of the book goes Over the sky and far away

Rob Rath said...

Dan-

Congrats, can't wait to read it. I love your Warhammer fiction, but I've been wondering for 10 years what a book would look like when you had free reign. But hell's bells, did you have to release it in the same week as James Ellroy's Blood's a Rover? This would be a huge problem if I weren't sick as a dog and have time to read both at the same time.

Big-

At first I was a little miffed at you, because I was certain that you plagiarized your blurb from Truman Capote's 1960 New York Times review of To Kill a Mockingbird. However, I have since realized that it is a reference to a little-known fragment of Chaucer's Canterbury Tales, namely this couplet from The Randy Leper's Tale:

Lo! Here approaches Heller the Frank,
The man is brilliant as a cokspanq.

But seriously, all of you have done a great job at your reviews.

Xhalax said...

HiWayRobry - A pint of what?

HiWayRobry said...

Xhalax,
I'll leave that up to you.
I myself would go with Irish Whiskey but, then again, that's just me! :)

Rob Rath said...

HiWay-

Man am I glad I'm not the only one who drinks whisky by the pint...

cor said...

just finished triumff got to say i enjoyed every minute of it, it wasnt neccesarily what i was expecting but still great lets hope its not too long till we see Sir Rupert Triumff struting his stuff again

Anonymous said...

Will be an interesting read no doubt. Probably one of those books that I pick up and read without stopping. Nice to see you Mr. A tacking something entirely fiction. Looking forward to this one.

To Waterstones!

sredni vashtar said...

well shit, i'd been operating on the assumption that WH40K was entirely fiction, too. i'm not sure i'd like it nearly so much if it was real.

Jambo said...

Got it.

Reading it.

Loving it.

My guffawing on the Piccadilly line drew no shortage of startled looks.

Maybe I need to work on a new laugh...

Uncle Truth said...

Depends. Do you actually say 'Guffaw' when you laugh? Personally, I think it's very original and I'd stick with it bruv.

Didn't know Triumff was out, so I guess I'll be going home via Borders tonight...

Rob Rath said...

Erm... not to rain on the Triumvirate, but has anyone else in the US had trouble getting their hands on Triumff?

I've hit everything from independent bookstores to the big chains and no one has it, or seems to be able to find it in their computer system to order it (even when I gave them the ISBN). I've gone ahead and ordered a copy through Amazon, but this thing with the shops baffles me.

I figure it's probably because Angry Robot planned a slower initial rollout in US bookstores or something, but in case there was some quirk in the computer system, I thought I'd bring it up.

Sorry if you're aware of this, or it's a distribution strategy that was planned. Just want to make sure Triumff gets into as many hands as possible!

Anonymous said...

Rob - Sorry, Triumff has a spring launch date in the USA. Nothing we can do about it, I'm afraid: different market, different rules.

Best,

Nik

Big said...

Ahh well Rob , Console yourself in the fact that the U.S. gets all the good films first.....LOL

HiWayRobry said...

Rob,
Doesn't everyone drink whiskey by the pint?!?! :)
Huh, maybe it's just you and me!
I tried to order Triumff through Amazon myself and it wasn't even there. Guess I'll have to try again. I, also, couldn't find one at Borders or Barnes & Noble and, like you, they had no idea what I was talking about or had it in their computer system.
I guess Nik has the inside scoop and we'll have to wait until the spring :(

Anonymous said...

Just picked Triumff up on Tuesday in Heathrow, and have finished it here in Boston. Bravo! Ripping good fun.
Steve Kelner

Abaddon said...

Lupercal! Lupercal! Lupercal!

Congratulations Mr.Abnett for the book :) ..